Wild Homes, hands down.

Disgrunted Aussie Gamer

LOL TEH XBOX IS HUGE!
But seriously, I laughed.

Crawl to China

Wild Homes, I'm taking away your star, just so I can put another one on ya ;)

Great posts as always, my friend :)

Spoony Bard

@wild homes:

I guess some of you guys do understand what happens in the world. Good Job.

Desertwolf

@FP Shindokie:

Erm, two comments above ya dude

The Fatass of Kickassness

So many good posts. This is why I only comment on Kotaku.
And Wild Homes has been saying exactly what I've have always believed, except he worded it ever more elequently and well thought out:

The asshole artist has a right to be an asshole. So respect that at least.

Thorax

LMAO @Quilt dude deserves a medal for that one.

Milkzhakes

@The Fatass of Kickassness: I hope you do mean Wild's. Ca$h just nominated him.

FP Shindokie

Damn, another great post by wild homes. Cheers my man!!!!

dead_red_eyes

@The Fatass of Kickassness: I meant Wild Home's post, of course.

The Fatass of Kickassness

Ah Wild so you really are giving Okenny a run for his money. Good stuff my friend.

FP Shindokie

Cash's comment is the most win. Weird considering I've been commenting on the other side of the argument (at Joystiq, at least - the wars over here are waaay too intellectually charged for me to just be able to jump into).

The Fatass of Kickassness

Quilt's, wild homes, and moonshadow's are very well-nominated.

Mesren_Makai

Quilt's was hilarious, a real keeper.

But wild's...man that one hit the nail right on the head. I myself find it amazing, and a little bit disgusting, how some of our fellow citizens would willingly allow our government to exploit 9/11 to further their own apocalyptic agendas, and then when someone points it out, turn around and scream "How dare you politicize this national tragedy!" Yeah, they have a right to be pissed off at this artist (if my house burned down, and then somebody drew a picture making fun of my house being burned down, I'd be pretty pissed too), but it doesn't change the fact that they're overreacting to the little things and completely ignoring the big things.

GhostWhoWalks

I love comments that are almost as long as the article. Also when they make a great point, it doesn't hurt. Go Wild.

I'm actually suprised the tree didn't sink into the ground. I can't see the bottom of it. Maybe it used to be taller?

TheMurderer

Man...i feel like I don't know ANYONE here anymore. Good comments though, folks.

ThisCharmingMan

Wild Homes' comment reminded me of an exchange in Pratchett's 'Night Watch'.

"They say they torture people."
"Why doesn't anyone do anything?"
"'Cause they torture people."

Gene-ius

Wild home's comment deserves a golf clap. :)

kojirodensetsu

Hot damn, nominated twice? Woot, Wild Homes.

Pablos102030

Congratulations Wild, those were some very good comments.

Good stuff all around this week.

Falsoman

Wild Homes just won the intelectual comment olympics.

WDYC

Well said Wild Homes, when freedom and liberation were pitched off to sell out Iraq's invasion. American's were losing the values at home while their government still got it's hands in the same bee hive creating more terrorists.

Plsk1n

Oh goodness. You go to sleep, and look what happens. Thanks to everyone (I'd attach all the names, but mobile Safari would crash) for the kind words! And congratulations to Quilt and Inquisitor and Moonshadow-- really good work, my friends.

@Mobus: Don't worry, you were totally civil. One could quite legitimately make an argument that many of the brokers of the war on terror have profited indirectly from said operation (Halliburton with its ties to Cheney, for example) but to be entirely honest, the primary form of exploitation for profit I highlighted would be the books, miniseries, motion pictures, and so forth. The tragedy of that day has been co-opted by both institutions and private citizens. I'd just like to urge us all to keep a healthy perspective and honor our fellow man.

Celebratory puddings all around! Cheers!

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

Quilt!

AshxMFxKetchum

@arazzor:

Indeed. I certainly couldn't have said it better myself.

dead_red_eyes

@NeVeRMoRe666:

Hey now, that's the cover to My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless". There's a Fender Jazzmaster in that picture, and it's full of win.

dead_red_eyes

Wild homes, easily.

Makes a point, and makes it well.

DavidRS

Wildhomes, about the 9/11 comment, I want to thank you for explaining exactly how I felt about the whole issue in better detail than I ever could. Well spoken.

arazzor

Two nominations in one week? Aaaah Wild, that's why I always look for your purple/pink avatar...

NeVeRMoRe666

@GhostWhoWalks:

9/11 wrote our government a HUGE paycheck to stomp all over the 4th amendment, invade our personal privacy, and take away our rights in order to "protect us" .... not to mention fund the war in Iraq which started out as a mission to get Osama then somehow turned into a mission to get Saddam. They've definitely exploited the ever loving shit out of 9/11 for their own means. It's ugly.

dead_red_eyes

@Wild Homes: You make some very good points, but I wonder who is profiting from it and how? I don't see how anyone is making money with the war, unless they are an arms manufacturer. We aren't taking Iraq's oil.

Maybe I misinterpreted what you meant by "commercial exploitation." If you read this, I'd appreciate some specific examples. I can see your point about political agendas, even if I disagree, but I fail to see how anyone is downright commercially profiting from 9/11 and "the war on terror."

I'm aiming for a civil discussion, so none of this was said in a hostile manner at all. It's hard to tell sometimes with words alone. :)

Mobus

@maraxusofk: Not to insult anyone (not sure about this) but are there any other kind of fanboys? The whole idea is rather perplexing to me(not in understanding,but in practice).

arazzor

@The Fatass of Kickassness:

half the posts are over here. the other half usually involve retarded fanboys.

maraxusofk

Hats off to wild homes folks, I know my hat is.

Bando

@dead_red_eyes: Now now now...you got me all wrong. I love his avatar. And now I'll have to download the said album. Thanks both of ya :)

You never stop giving *tear*

NeVeRMoRe666

@Mobus: Here is the only specific example that I could pull of the top of my head. [www.cnn.com]

zdevex

@FP_slomo788: So I didn't post mine**

FP_slomo788

WH is God. I tried to express those statements (last comment), but no matter how I flipped them someone would spin them into "anti-American propaganda." I applaud him for both his balls and his ability to express his thoughts so clearly. Kudos man.

FP_slomo788

great posts, the funny thing is that we get amazing intellectual ideas alongside the great fanboyism in one site. Great job, and lets try to expand the site by adding our own post like this

Alchemy_Comrade

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: I'm all for pointing out that Halliburton is tied to Cheney, just so long as we also point out that The Clinton Administration handed those boys truckloads of cash too. All in the interest of full disclosure. ^_^

PEWPEWGreenLaser

Nice job Homes!
Keep up the poignant comments, guys - they're what make this site's comments a bit more relaxing to read through than most other sites'.

Blah8

Went to the topic to read the reaction to wild homes post on 9/11 .. curiously, everyone just ignored him and a few that did not, said stuff like:
"I personally find you implications just as offensive."

Props to kotaku for not ignoring quality over cattle-driven-truth.

TheurerDiciple

Holy Sh** on Wild Homes' Comment. Great Statement.

shrek187

@Erwin: Comment of the week material in the comments of Comment of the week? I bow to you, sir.

And to you, Wild Homes. Very well said.

ShaggE

@Erwin: I hate Internet terminology, I really do. However, I think this post merits the use of the deadliest weapon in its arsenal of asininity.

Gentlemen, I'm issuing an all-caps ROFLCOPTER.

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: Ah, homes. You consistently amaze me with a verbosity that is all the more irritating for the fact that it's everything I usually want to say, but without the swearing. Don't know how you manage it!

freakout

Dammit Wild, fucking asshole. Listen, you're a great commenter and all, you're a good person, and damn if you can't make me laugh too, but that's the problem. I was all set to come in this week and insult the `Tap's selection again, but noooooo, people actually nominated good comments. What the hell? Are these people new? Kotaku has been in steady decline for a while and you just have to come in and- and un-shit over all of it. Are you trying to reverse this? What, you think people might actually think before posting? This can't be fixed, there's no hope.

Worse, this goes against everything we know. This is against tradition, recent as it is. To right this wrong I plan to start a new initiative: We must bring down Kotaku's quality again. If you see a popular topic, "Inb4" it. See the eds say something remotely negative? They must be fanboys, so flame 'em! What's that? Something is questionable? It must be a lie! Needs moar "Needs Moar." And most importantly, logic is the enemy, intelligence is stupid, and coherence is basketball fuck nugget Cosby.

You know what happened to the last person who tried this? He loved Kotaku, just like you, but he couldn't understand why it was deteriorating. He tried fruitlessly to fix Kotaku. Then, on a night, just like this one, he claimed to have found a formula that explains the stupidity in Kotaku. Unfortunately he was thought a crackpot by many and eventually locked himself up in the real world for the rest of his life. He died surrounded by loved ones. This man was named DV8. The only mark he left on this world is being the inspiration for an Aronofsky film no one saw.

Wild, you see? You're going to end up just like him. Smart, intelligent, redundant, and pointed. We agreed to go down with the ship. What happened? Did you suddenly have delusions of decency? It's not gonna happen! If you refuse to stop I'm going to have to stop talking to you... in replies. Hope is the root of all disasters, pride of man's downfall. You're part of the solution, and I can't let that go. You're either against me, or against Kotaku.

The rationality is in your hands fellow Kotakuite. You decide. Until you come to your senses and lose all hope, you'll be just like DV8. And who would want that?

Erwin

@Erwin: Don't worry, Erwin. There's always Gamefaqs.

WittyUserName

Congratulations to all! I especially enjoyed Wild Homes's SECOND quote this week. WTG WH!

Eltigro

The South Park 'profit' joke really needs to be retired IMO. It's started to sound grating like the All Your Base stuff became due to overuse. There are plenty of other underused memes just waiting to be given the spotlight.

Kral2

The "souldout" technique is a classic in marketing ;D

Ariakkan

Kudos to Wild Homes, espceally on that second one.

EmeraldDragon

I'm not especially interested in starting a discussion on the political (I go elsewhere for that), but the "illegal wiretapping" wasn't on "U.S. citizens" but, "calls going to known terrorists outside the U.S.". Please, PLEASE, don't give me the "slippery slope", argument. That one only works in a purely hypothetical and philosophical world.

I live in a military community, have all my life, and everyone I know that is in Iraq, or has been, tells me that close to nothing reported by the news media is remotely similar to what is really happening.

The problem with Wild Home's argument isn't that there isn't truth to them, but that they are relatively petty. We don't live in a world where someone listening to your phone call (with a terrorist) is an evil only committed by a tyrant government. Depressingly, we live in a world where Saddam Hussein has "Rape rooms", and Al Queda feeds families a meal, revealing at the end that they've been eating their own child, by bringing in his severed head on a platter, in order to gain their cooperation. I don't think Wild Home's is unintelligent, quite to the contrary, and with all due respect to someone of such intelligence, I only think he is a bit naive.

"There are no such things as Wartime Atrocities. War itself is an Atrocity."

It's a shame that people would threaten violence over something like the space invaders "art piece", despite how distasteful it is, however, there is a difference between a government of a nation using an unprovoked attack on it's own soil that kills more than 3000 civilians as reason for military action and someone using it to make a statement that disrespects both those that died, and their families.

I could keep going for many thousands of words, but I would digress into uncivil territory. I appoligize for my long sentences, and possibly confusing phrasing, as well as my excessive comma usage.

Herabec

Wild = Win

ZeeBeeEss

@Herabec:
Resuming, you want US to lower it's values and standards to match the rest of the world for the benefit of mankind? it would be SO MUCH more helpful if US instead kept their economy up and opened space to more and more workers from other countries, willing to fight for the right ideals instead of forcing them on people who don't really want them, based on their religious beliefs..

TheurerDiciple

Hahaha nice one on two nominations, wild homes. Both are accurate and sensible, too.

Mister Adequate

Nice job, wild homes, for double dipping this week.

DreamoftheEndless

@Herabec: I think what's important to take away from yours and wild homes' posts are that we are being lied to from BOTH the media and our government.

Are we losing personal freedoms? Of course, I don't think anyone who has tried using the commercial air-travel system in the last 7 years would argue that one. But are the news outlets manipulating stories to further their own agenda? You better believe it.

This is why critical thinking is so important. We simply cannot afford to take what is told to us at face value. If you care about a topic enough to try to discuss it rationally, make an attempt to see both sides, since I guarantee you there is truth to both arguments. I can also guarantee you that both sides are lying through their teeth.

Calavera302

@EnigmaNemesis:

Nomination meaning ... but great comment from wild!

EnigmaNemesis

wild homes shows me the battle for the internet isn't lost yet.

Reikoku

@Herabec: I appreciate your position. Before I respond to the idealogical, I'd correct one point-- I never suggested illegal wiretapping. I suggested, instead, spying on the American people, and that's certainly exactly what the much-discussed Protect America Act amendment to FISA created. The telecommunications industry redirected all of their domestic traffic to the NSA-- and when the American people discovered it, and responded angrily, the President himself moved to provide amnesty to the telecoms. So yes, the charge I made was not of illegal wiretapping-- and the charge I did make was based in fact.

But as to charges of naivete-- well, it's certainly possible. Like anyone, I am certainly naive about some things. I wouldn't presume to know the complications of the war on the ground in Iraq. I know that I honor the bravery of those soldiers, no matter the pretense for our occupation there. But democrary-- and the freedoms it provides us-- aren't complex. They're absolute. They are anything but tainted by grey areas. Look up what E.B. White said about democracy in the middle of World War II... look at the conviction of our greatest patriots. The principles of our country are simple, and that's what gives them strength-- you defend freedoms. This, without any codicils for only when it's easy, or only when it doesn't exact a terrible price, or only when no one might suffer for it. When we declare it permissable to violate the principles of freedom our country was founded on, we give up what makes our country honorable. When we interred Japanese-American citizens during World War II, it wasn't without reason-- but it was detestable. When we stood by as Nixon manipulated the office of the presidency to build an unassailable 'silent majority' and used racial manipulation to do it, we traded foreign policy breakthroughs for truth-- and we gave up a little of what made us a great people. When we, in our fear of terrorism, allowed those we task with protecting us to compromise freedom for security, we failed to shoulder our duty as Americans.

So I might be naive. But I believe America to be a principle greater than terror.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

Excellent comment ca$h!

EnigmaNemesis

@Herabec: I think you are missing his point.

If we lower ourselves to torturing those who threaten us -- or just threaten us in theory, then how can we say we stand on the moral high ground. Morality isn't a pick a choose sort of thing. You don't get to fit and scream at an artist for their work on a subject (reguardless of how offensive or tasteless you find it), while legitamizing the indefinate detention and torture of another human being for something they may or may not have any involvement in.

EmeraldDragon

@Calavera302:

+ Watch video

EnigmaNemesis

@Mobus: Actually with war, the economy generally kickstarts. Tons of supplies are sold, and job opportunities open up. Its a pretty good sport. Oh right, minus the people dying part. Unless you're into that.

And here's just one example of a nice and shameless cash in on the event. [www.911twenty.com]

God bless Capitalism.

Ah right, and applause all around to the commenters. Standing ovation for Homes as usual.

Furious_Liver

People are more concerned with the signs of patriotism than the underlying principles of it.

That's why the post 9/11 world is like this.

ostartero

Always liked that comment by wild, I agree with it as well.

Hand_O_Death

sorry for double posting, props goes out to all nominees. the quality of comments are going up. i need to go and reinstall safari to make sure my browser, and eyes for that matter(i do wear eyeglasses..lol) are working properly.

zanzibarlegend

WILD HOMES COMMENTING.

what did you expect? i follow this guy for a reason. glad he's my bud. he reminds me why this site works.

zanzibarlegend

@EnigmaNemesis: Haha, if that's not the epitome of irony, I don't know what is.

"Video and Television are bad. Here's a video to prove it"

Calavera302

@EnigmaNemesis: whoa... what exactly is that video and where did it come from?
was it broadcast in the US or something, cuz I live in france and don't watch much television... nevertheless I like it:
where in the boredom killing buisseness... you ain't gona get any truth from us
so true

laencythe

Wow Homes, very impressive. Back off ladies, I got him first ;)

Tiger-Fever

@EnigmaNemesis: Hahaha, I love how he casts aside television, but complains that only 15% of people read the newspapers. 85% of people are quite smart.

Furious_Liver

@laencythe: ...although I only speak of the first half... the rest is a shitpile of xenophobick dung, that my dad would believe... funny how they tell you Tv controls you, conditions you, and to turn it off forever, blahablah, where they do the exact same thing... is not Tv that conditions the masses, it's ALL media... and that includes the internet, which actually is close to supplanting Tv.

it's actually a nice example of what calacvera said. :O

laencythe

@Erwin:

Dude, SOI SOI SOI!

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

Wild homes, you the man!

excel_excel

Wild homes, congratulations, a voice of reason in a sea of ignorance...

@The Fatass of Kickassness: I understand what you mean with intellectualy charged, sometimes the commenters around here post like they were trying to win a Pulitzer...

Daisuash

@Erwin: Circle gets the square, my friend. I've tried and failed to think up something that is the equal of your comment. I should think Needs more "needs moar" might be my favorite thing that's appeared on the site this year. Goddamn you and your cleverness. I can only hope that companion cube slips from those hands and lands you a brain contusion, so I can catch up to your pace.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

@tzaketh:

I completely agree. We do have too little racism. We need more of it. I think we should separate everyone into their own burroughs and build high walls. We'll line the walls with good men with guns and shoot anyone who tries to climb over. When something in the world happens that we don't like, all we have to do is chuck molotovs into the burrough that most represents the people that committed the atrocity. But we won't call them Molotovs because that's just admitting we lost the war. We'll call them fire flasks!

dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased

Wild homes wrote a well-written, ill-thought out and unjustified post. You can't just make blanket statements without putting anything in there to back it up, and the majority of his points are extraordinarily debatable.

A Culture of Racism in response to 9/11? What are you smoking? We have too little racism in this country as a response to 9/11, frankly. The idea of some 65 year old white lady being picked randomly for a search because they don't want to profile is absurd.

Frankly, your whole post reeks of conspiracy-minded BS.

tzaketh

Curse you, Wild Homes! Stop acting so smart.
You'll get all the Comments of the Week, and nobody else will have a chance.

Well, Congratulations. Excellent work.

Though I will say this- You took the easy shots. You went up against the insane and homicidal. You were bound to win. Try defending them, it's much harder.
(Though why would you want to defend the insane?)

Ad-hominem

@Ad-hominem: I had several text-walls last week, actually. Don't worry... I'm still making people angry through posting.

I just had nothing to add after Wild Homes post. Whether everyone agreed with it or not, it was perfectly placed to reset the tone of that section and try to get people to be more civil, rather than spending so much time talking past each other.

The point seemed to be more about kicking the twisted morality that people were exhibiting in the balls than making a fierce political statement. Something that is often needed in those kinds of posts.

I mean... what could I add? :D

dv8godd

@Ad-hominem: Ahahaha! Oh man, hehe!

Erwin

@tzaketh: You didn't hear about all the hate that's been directed at Muslims and Arabs in general since 9/11?

Though I'm not sure a guy who states "we have too little racism" is being entirely rational.

@dunetiger reads kotaku, seems pleased: Nonono, FREEDOM flasks. "Feel the wonderfully burning sensation of Freedom, fellow citizen!" *fling*

GhostWhoWalks

@Ad-hominem: Now that right there is comment of the week worthy. Cheers.

Furious_Liver

@Ad-hominem:

LOL!

dead_red_eyes

@tzaketh: - "We have too little racism in this country as a response to 9/11, frankly."

Bwahahahaha. What are YOU smoking? Talk about a well-written, ill-thought out and unjustified post.

@Erwin:

You win the interenets again my good sir. Congrats!

dead_red_eyes

@Furious_Liver: Sorry, I've gotta say it deserves to go to Littlebigplaneteer.
Haven't you heard? He's Comment of The Week Material, folks.

Ad-hominem

@Erwin: Hey, Erwin. That's not how I remember Dv8's decline.
I remember it having to do with him locking himself up in a room because Insomniabob was trying to kill all opposition so he could be King of Commenters.
Of course, that may have been Papabear who locked himself up.
The important thing is this- I just saw Dv8 last week. Or, more accurately, yesterday or the day before. Or, more accurately, two posts below Wild Homes. And, sure, it did just respond to Wild Home's with a minimal amount of text, leading me to believe it's his ghost(because everyone knows Dv8 can only write comments so long and awe-inspiring that people have been converted to AND from Christianity because of it-regardless of the subject.)

And, now I've managed to create a bizarre and rambling post about fragments of Kotaku's history, a la Erwin when he's not in one of his states of incredible lucidity and brilliance.

Ad-hominem

@Ad-hominem: Erwin and I need love too.

Furious_Liver

@tzaketh: Really, are these points that debatable? Let's see:

I don't see much debate on the movies, books, miniseries, and other commercial exploitation - those are occurring, simply look around and you will find them. For sale at low prices, no less.

I don't see how anyone can deny that the events of 9/11 played a role in the 2004 and even now in the 2008 elections (as well as interim elections) from the local level all the way to the presidential race.

But I think it's the rest of the points you want to argue anyhow.

Points like, "hunt down foreign nationals on foreign soil" are hard to argue really; we did, we used the attacks on the WTC to support the campaign in Afghanistan for the purpose of rooting out suspected terrorists. We used the attacks to justify a prison camp at Guantanamo, a camp which detains foreign prisoners without the benefit of open trial or hearing. The torture may be arguable, if only because the secrecy is hard to break.

The telecomms have openly admitted now that following the attacks that whole trunk lines carrying communications from enormous numbers of people (US citizens and otherwise) were indiscriminately routed to NSA systems. And the attacks have been used to justify this, and provide amnesty to these companies for their illegal actions.

Not enough racism!? NOT ENOUGH!? This comment actually makes me ill; physically nauseous. To think that someone would actually believe that any amount of racism is not only acceptable, but justified? I think that alone shows how much the environment of fear that has been propagated since 9/11 has affected people. Racism is a plague that eats away at humanity, constantly draining the hope of a peaceful future, and there is never justification for it.

Let me tell you, history has recorded what happens when a nation lets the leaders use fear and propaganda to make the decent people stand aside while they abuse human rights - it ends in crematoria filled with human ashes.

Lastly, I will say this: As long as we continue to fight hatred with hatred, to quell terror from without with terror from within, and fight ideology with military; as long as this continues, we will fail - we will simply raise new generations to hate us.

You fight hatred with tolerance, you crush terror with hope, you lose enemies by making friends.

The_Inquisitor

@Mobus:

Defense contractors, including PMCs. Multiple corporations producing the multitude of aid products being sent over there, and of course Halliburton, which the vice prez used to work for (and has received deferred compensation and stock options from since resigning in 2000).

Koztah

@The_Inquisitor: Really nicely stated. Thank you very much.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

As usual I always look forward to the comments of the week and enjoy the comments that follow :D

hrabbit

@tzaketh: Did you really just write "we have too little racism in this country"?

Really?

If you want evidence to corroborate the (very valid, very, very justified) arguments wild homes is making in the above post, all you need to is pull your head out of the fucking sand and pay attention to the world around you. Or just stop being an a-hole troll and go back to your toys.

Even The Dark Knight was deeply laced with post-9/11 allegory. Every pundit, politician, and soldier with any command of language has written a book about either 9/11, it's social and political aftermath, or about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as directs results of the event. Movies, television, books, our foreign policy, or national policy, justification of gross human rights violations, an economy of the verge of catastrophic collapse, a crumbling civil infrastructure, record high oil prices...

Our nation is in the worst shape it's been in over 30 years, and almost all of it all can be tied to the policies of a corrupt administration and their ill-advised and illegal invasion of another country in the name of a tragedy they weren't even associated with.

If you truly don't see what's valid and honest in that post, I weep for the future of the United States. We've fallen far from our founding principles, and because of wilfully ignorant people (like you) who've kept the idiot son of a former president in an office for which he was never qualified, or deserving, I fear we will never recover our real values and social virtues.

Things in the country are deeply fucked up, largely because of the political agenda forwarded by our leadership in reaction to 9/11, and if you can't see that for yourself I can't imagine what you do with your time, because watching (our joke version of) the news is obviously not on the list.

Though knee-jerking over an ART EXHIBIT(!) that is ironic and sickening by design, and subsequently decrying it's evils by cold calling 9/11 victims' families so as to publish their uninformed reaction does apparently qualify as 'news' these days, so who can blame you?

Too bad nobody wants to talk about huundreds of thousands of innocent men, women, children, who've been bombed to oblivion for absolutely no good or justifiable reason whatsoever in Iraq and Afghanistan. There's a real tragedy... there's blood on our hands that nobody wants to even acknowledge, and for what purpose?

But an art installation hat ironically juxtaposes icons of our popular culture and of national tragedy so as to make an honest (and very obvious) statement about our own cultural transference between the two? Fuck man, get a rope!

stranger

@The_Inquisitor:

Good stuff!

@stranger:

What a great comment, seriously. You've earned yourself a new follower.

dead_red_eyes

@stranger: It looks like we have a new comment of the week...

Daisuash

Alot of great comments this week, but seeing an overused meme like Moonshadow101's isn't exactly what I like to see.

Oh well.

Terance!

@wild homes loves you but chooses...

Wow, fucking bravo. That was perfect.

UltimatePancakeSensation

@Herabec: Well said Herabec. Wild Homes makes his points very well, as do you. It is nice to see opposing viewpoints defended and debated with such integrity. If only our politicians could maintain that same level of integrity during their debates! :)

Mobus

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: "@Mobus: Don't worry, you were totally civil. One could quite legitimately make an argument that many of the brokers of the war on terror have profited indirectly from said operation (Halliburton with its ties to Cheney, for example) but to be entirely honest, the primary form of exploitation for profit I highlighted would be the books, miniseries, motion pictures, and so forth. The tragedy of that day has been co-opted by both institutions and private citizens. I'd just like to urge us all to keep a healthy perspective and honor our fellow man."

Thanks! I see what you mean.

Mobus

I believe tzaketh mean with "we have too little racism in this country" that he expected to be way worse.

And even if the conditions really aren't that good for it, all I have to say regarding both 9/11 and the corrupt use of it is:

The enemy of the people is the people.

TheurerDiciple

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!: I'm surprised you took the time to respond to me.

On the surface, I agree that the protect america act is disturbing, but personally I couldn't be less concerned that(if) the government is(were) listening to me.

It goes too far, absolutely, but things like public education's domination over the authority that parents should have over their children. If you are offended by someone listening to a conversation with someone waiting for the possibility that you may say something indicating you're intend harm to other U.S. Citizens, shouldn't you be tenfold as taken aback by the government taking your child, your flesh and blood, away from you and denying you the right to educate your child in what, and the manner that you see fit.

I think it's a violation of our rights on a level, but there are far worse things that have not even the good intentions of the protect america act (as worthless as that is in reality), that should be receiving our attention and dissent.

When it comes to the actions we've taken, I feel that this is the only way to defend ourselves given the nature of the attacks, and the assailants. The will not idly sit by as we attempt do persuade them to stop, or allow us to use the Justice system to prosecute them (as attempted and advocated by some in our federal government). Please forgive the the simplicity of the following: The best defense, is a good offense.

@Calavera302:

I take everything I hear from the government with a heaping helping of salt, the same is true for the "news" I get from the Media.

I base my beliefs on the truths that I base my life on, and the stories and conversations I've had with the people that know first hand the truths of Iraq.

Didn't I acknowledge that I believe there to be truth in what Wild Homes had to say? I hope I didn't give a bad impression.

(Please forgive my potential mistakes in the above, but I am on a schedule, and don't have time to proof read)

Herabec

@Herabec: Why wouldn't I respond to you? Your point was well-considered and articulately expressed. It's a very interesting discussion. I'm glad to have it with you.

Your point about there being lesser and greater concerns is well-taken. And I think sometimes when we discuss politics we can't imagine anything beyond the situation that informs our own viewpoint-- and that's something I fall into as much as anyone. I can only say that within the station of my life, I don't approve of trading freedom for security-- even if I can see the benefits of that security. I desire that security-- for both myself and my fellow man-- but if the cost of that security is a less transparent government and limitations placed on my freedoms, I'm unable to endorse it. Perhaps if I was in a situation where I felt more threatened by the vague 'terror' that's haunting America, I'd be willing to make the trade-- and maybe I'd be right to feel that way. I won't judge anyone who would agree to it-- anyone who would attain great defense, in the form of guaranteed security, by wielding a 'good offense', in the form of bending certain of those freedoms that make it hard to organise and police our nation. All I am able to do is to know for myself where it is, as E.B. White said of democracy, that the line that forms on the right should begin.

wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!

@wild homes loves you but chooses darkness!:

I can respect your opinion, without feeling that it is a major issue, especially since, truth be told, there is no "Right to privacy". The so called right to privacy (telephone calls) is actually an interpretation of the ninth amendment, which as actually so vague as to be cryptic. In a way, it's closer to a violation of the fifth, as it could be considered self incrimination. One could argue that any information traveling over the telecoms physical lines becomes property of the company, as a telephone is a service, and not a right.

I know you didn't use it, but it's popular one, "Those who would trade essential liberty for security deserve neither" and it's many variants is an excellent of a half baked thought. It applies to many things, but with the key word being essential, with that word present most situations are no longer applicable. Without that word (as the quote is most often seen on the internet), It can be applied to anything. For example; underwear. I'll go no further.

When someone says that we shouldn't taint our morality, because it tarnishes our authority as moral superior, I almost can't help but laugh. The only people we would torture (and I use word loosely as there is no physical damage from "water boarding") are people that laugh at us for pretending we are morally superior. They believe us to be evil by the nature that we don't believe like they do. They aren't going to respect us because we don't torture them, they'll think we are weak (I don't think torture makes you strong, but they do). These people don't find anything wrong with torture, mutilation, and "honor killing". Let's delve into the hypothetical: Would you have a mass murderer subjected to 30 seconds of discomfort and fear in order to save the lives of potentially hundreds of innocent people, or would rather not dirty your hands, and let them all die, so that you don't feel that you've hurt someone who wouldn't show you the courtesy of merely water boarding you. If you had to make one pond muddy in order to rid your town of a toxic waste cesspool, would you do it?

It's not pretty, and it's not right. It's wrong. That's unarguable. But unlike God, we can't turn people from unimaginable evil to good with our love. This is a sinful and fallen world. We're stuck here. How can morality be any different than the rest of reality? True, what's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong, but how can you deny that one evil is no worse than another? Is lying to protect someone's feelings the same as raping and killing a child? Of course not, that is absurd. And saying the slightly over zealous acts of our country trying to protect it's citizens from these unprovoked attackers are equal wrongs is comparable in it's absurdity.

I myself am a proponent of limited government. I want few things from government. The law enforcement, the judicial system, infrastructure construction and maintenance, and the military. Everything else is almost without exception better accomplished by the private sector.

The reason that the threat to our country is so "vague" is because of the actions taken by the government. There is no logic to thinking that this war and the actions such as the Protect America act are ineffectual is surreal to me. Why would a group of people attack a country, kill 3000 citizens, and then decide to not do anything else for 7 years. Are they satisfied that they've made their point, and aren't trying anymore? In their minds, we are either to submit, or die. There can be no exceptions. I don't see how you can deny a threat when the attacks on 9/11 occurred, without acknowledging that something has changed. Why is it now a vague threat instead of an impending doom? If you think that the governments actions were uncalled for, what should have happened in order to prevent further attacks? It's undeniably worked, but how would you have accomplished the same task?

Please don't take this as an attack, because I am rather tired at the moment, and it does require more effort to write in a completely civil manner, than to simply let the thoughts come off in a way that is far more curt, to put it mildly.

Herabec

@Herabec: Well thought and said, ditto. I feel Iraq SHOULD pay us for liberating them ($79 billion in surplus)? I am a gamer who listens to Rap and am a union member. That doesnt mean that we all must be default iron-curtain socialist bleeding heart liberals.

Gouki146

@Furious_Liver:

He is not complaining, he is just showing how most of the world used to read books and newspapers, and now the new influential medium we use to shape our opinions is television, and how much easier it is.

EnigmaNemesis

Quilt ftw.
Rape: The Funniest Thing Since Racism.

Karl Marx Vladimirs Linens